The Astrophysical Journal (Jan 2024)
UNCOVER: A NIRSpec Census of Lensed Galaxies at z = 8.50–13.08 Probing a High-AGN Fraction and Ionized Bubbles in the Shadow
- Seiji Fujimoto,
- Bingjie Wang,
- John R. Weaver,
- Vasily Kokorev,
- Hakim Atek,
- Rachel Bezanson,
- Ivo Labbe,
- Gabriel Brammer,
- Jenny E. Greene,
- Iryna Chemerynska,
- Pratika Dayal,
- Anna de Graaff,
- Lukas J. Furtak,
- Pascal A. Oesch,
- David J. Setton,
- Sedona H. Price,
- Tim B. Miller,
- Christina C. Williams,
- Katherine E. Whitaker,
- Adi Zitrin,
- Sam E. Cutler,
- Joel Leja,
- Richard Pan,
- Dan Coe,
- Pieter van Dokkum,
- Robert Feldmann,
- Yoshinobu Fudamoto,
- Andy D. Goulding,
- Gourav Khullar,
- Danilo Marchesini,
- Michael Maseda,
- Themiya Nanayakkara,
- Erica J. Nelson,
- Renske Smit,
- Mauro Stefanon,
- Andrea Weibel
Affiliations
- Seiji Fujimoto
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX 78712, USA ; [email protected]
- Bingjie Wang
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA; Institute for Computational & Data Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA; Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA
- John R. Weaver
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts , Amherst, MA 01003, USA
- Vasily Kokorev
- ORCiD
- Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen , 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
- Hakim Atek
- ORCiD
- Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS, Sorbonne Université , 98bis Boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris, France
- Rachel Bezanson
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and PITT PACC, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
- Ivo Labbe
- ORCiD
- Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology , Melbourne, VIC 3122, Australia
- Gabriel Brammer
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN), Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen , Jagtvej 128, København N, DK-2200, Denmark
- Jenny E. Greene
- ORCiD
- Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University , 4 Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
- Iryna Chemerynska
- ORCiD
- Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS, Sorbonne Université , 98bis Boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris, France
- Pratika Dayal
- ORCiD
- Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen , 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
- Anna de Graaff
- ORCiD
- Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie , Königstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany
- Lukas J. Furtak
- ORCiD
- Physics Department, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev , P.O. Box 653, Be’er-Sheva 84105, Israel
- Pascal A. Oesch
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN), Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen , Jagtvej 128, København N, DK-2200, Denmark; Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva , Chemin Pegasi 51, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
- David J. Setton
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and PITT PACC, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
- Sedona H. Price
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and PITT PACC, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
- Tim B. Miller
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, Yale University , New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University , 1800 Sherman Ave, Evanston, IL 60201, USA
- Christina C. Williams
- ORCiD
- NSFs National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA; Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- Katherine E. Whitaker
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts , Amherst, MA 01003, USA
- Adi Zitrin
- ORCiD
- Physics Department, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev , P.O. Box 653, Be’er-Sheva 84105, Israel
- Sam E. Cutler
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts , Amherst, MA 01003, USA
- Joel Leja
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA; Institute for Computational & Data Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA; Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Richard Pan
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Tufts University , 574 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA 02155, USA
- Dan Coe
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) , Inc. for the European Space Agency (ESA), 1331 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20004, USA; Center for Astrophysical Sciences, Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University , 3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Pieter van Dokkum
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, Yale University , New Haven, CT 06511, USA
- Robert Feldmann
- ORCiD
- Institute for Computational Science, University of Zurich , Zurich CH-8057, Switzerland
- Yoshinobu Fudamoto
- ORCiD
- Waseda Research Institute for Science and Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University , 3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan; National Astronomical Observatory of Japan , 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan
- Andy D. Goulding
- ORCiD
- Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University , 4 Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
- Gourav Khullar
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and PITT PACC, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
- Danilo Marchesini
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Tufts University , 574 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA 02155, USA
- Michael Maseda
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin-Madison , 475 N. Charter Street, Madison, WI 53706, USA
- Themiya Nanayakkara
- ORCiD
- Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology , Melbourne, VIC 3122, Australia
- Erica J. Nelson
- ORCiD
- Department for Astrophysical and Planetary Science, University of Colorado , Boulder, CO 80309, USA
- Renske Smit
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University , 146 Brownlow Hill, Liverpool L3 5RF, UK
- Mauro Stefanon
- ORCiD
- Departament d’Astronomia i Astrofìsica, Universitat de València , C. Dr. Moliner 50, E-46100 Burjassot, València, Spain; Unidad Asociada CSIC “Grupo de Astrofísica Extragaláctica y Cosmología,” Instituto de Física de Cantabria, Universitat de València , València, Spain
- Andrea Weibel
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva , Chemin Pegasi 51, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad9027
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 977,
no. 2
p. 250
Abstract
We present JWST NIRSpec prism spectroscopy of lensed galaxies at z ≳ 9 found behind the massive galaxy cluster Abell 2744 in the UNCOVER Cycle 1 Treasury Program. We confirm the redshift via emission lines and/or the Ly α break for 10 galaxies at z = 8.50–13.08 down to M _V = −17.3. We achieve a 100% confirmation rate for z > 9 candidates reported in H. Atek et al. Using six sources with multiple line detections, we find that offsets in redshift estimates between the lines and the Ly α break alone can be ±0.2, raising caution in designing future follow-up spectroscopy for the break-only sources with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. With spec- z -confirmed sources in UNCOVER and the literature, we derive lower limits on the rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) luminosity function (LF) at z ≃ 9–12 and find that these lower limits agree with recent photometric measurements. We identify at least two unambiguous and several possible active galactic nucleus (AGN) systems based on X-ray, broad H β , high ionization lines, and excess in the UV LF. This requires the AGN LFs at z ≃ 9–10 to be comparable or even higher than the X-ray AGN LF estimated at z ∼ 6 and suggests a plausible cause of the high abundance of z > 9 galaxies claimed in the recent photometric measurements is AGNs. One UV-luminous source is confirmed at the same redshift as a broad-line AGN at z = 8.50 with a physical separation of 380 kpc in the source plane. These two sources show emission blueward of Ly α , indicating a giant ionized bubble enclosing them with a radius of 7.69 ± 0.18 pMpc. Our results imply that AGNs have a nonnegligible contribution to cosmic reionization.
Keywords
